


Heart Bruises

by Hessanite



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuban Lance (Voltron), Galra Keith (Voltron), How Do I Tag, Korean Keith (Voltron), Mild Fluff, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-16
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-25 00:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9794777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hessanite/pseuds/Hessanite
Summary: The knife Keith activated in the Blade of Marmora did a bit more than just turn into a fancy sword... It jumpstarted Keith's latent Galra genes.So now Keith turns purple when he gets hurt, whether he's stubbing his toe...or getting punched by Galra soldiers. But it's a bit surprising how he reacts when a certain teammate gets hurt.Part 1 of "Confusing Reactions"





	

**Author's Note:**

> My first Voltron fanfic, my debut as a hardcore Klance lover, and an exploration into Galra traits as shown by our favorite fiery paladin!  
> I haven't written seriously for years, so I'm using the power of fanfiction to relearn how to story.  
> I hope you like the story! If you do, there's more where that came from!
> 
> Also, if something is weird with the formating, that is because I weote and posted this on a tablet, and not in the text window either. So I copy-pasted it paragraph by paragraph. Please let me know and I'll try to fix it!

The first time Keith showed a Galra trait, he’d just gotten punched in the face. Purple stained his skin to match the shape of the new bruise, and he doesn’t spare a thought for it as he shreds the robot sentry right after.

The second time, the Paladins were training, and Pidge kicked him hard enough to knock his breath out. Pidge almost hadn’t noticed, excited over their first unarmed victory over the red paladin. They’d bruised a rib, but the purple coloration Keith sported was too uniform for a normal bruise.

The third time was when the group figured it out. The team had been mostly walking barefoot, since the shoes they had all come to the Castle in were getting worn by constant use, and Lance had been using his sewing skills to attempt to make new ones from the patterns conveniently supplied by their shoes. Keith had ben walking through the lounge to grab a water pouch, and stubbed his toe on the edge of the counter. Purple had spread completely up their ankle, then vanished as Lance giggled over Keith’s frantic bouncing.

That was also when Keith noticed how much he liked Lance’s giggle. 

“Nice to know the Mullet feels the indignity of toe-stubs as well,” Lance had snorted. He’d quickly turned back towards the shoes he was working on, which looked like a stiff cloth version of Hunk’s combat boots. He didn’t see Keith’s confused flush.

After that, Keith learned how the worse the injury, the longer his skin stayed purple. His team had learned as well, and he didn’t miss the covert glances at his face after every battle. He had to suffer quite the teasing when, on a brief vacation to Arus, a day in swimming trunks and full sun left him with a nasty, painful sunburn that was speckled with purple freckles. While he hadn’t required a healing pod for something as trivial as a sunburn, he had still been vastly uncomfortable whenever anyone touched his shoulders or face.

Lance had offered the disgruntled red paladin something very similar to aloe, and Keith had barely stuttered out a thanks before Lance turned away and practically ran off.

The balm worked exceedingly well, and by the next day Keith returned it with a careful smile. The raised purple freckles stayed a while longer, slightly thicker and rougher than the rest of his skin. Lance inexplicably blushed and fled whenever he saw them though.

(Okay, maybe not inexplicable, but Keith noted how Lance had challenged him to do literally anything that could result in sunburn, and the return of purple freckles. He went along with it, but suffered for his silence.)

And then Lance got shot.  
________________

It was a routine mission, more like a hit-and-run, on a prison ship, but Lance had gotten ambushed. And Keith had found himself tearing through dozens of drone sentries to reach Lance’s side. He’d realized only later that his skin had turned completely purple, despite getting no more than a slight nick on his cheek from a laser he hadn’t quite dodged.

“Mama mia, that huurts.” Lance hissed through clenched teeth as Keith tore a strip of bandage from the pouch and applied it to the shoulder wound Lance bore. Blood stained the padding slowly.

“Keep pressure on it. I’ll get you out of here,” Keith growled curtly, wrapping another strip around Lance’s shoulder to help keep it in place, then lifting the taller paladin like a child, one arm under shoulders and knees.

“Pressure, huh?” Lance slowly pressed his palm to the wound, going pale as death from pain. Then he looked distinctly green as Keith nearly dropped him. “How’re you planning to fight with both arms occupied?”

“I’ll put you down and hack them up. Simple enough?” Keith rounded a corner, swore in Korean, then put Lance down and proved his plan with action. Lance fumbled for his bayard and dropped one of the half-dozen sentries crowding the sword-fighting paladin, nearly shrieking at the recoil it left buzzing through his arm and bleeding shoulder.

Keith tore through the rest, and then saw how Lance stared glassily. Red stained the whole of his arm, despite the pressure the blue paladin kept to it. He was losing too much blood. Keith grimaced, scooping up the boy again, and ignored the slicing sensation in his chest as Lance nearly passed out. He activated his comm, trying to keep his voice steady as he increased the pace, practically jogging towards the red lion.

“Shiro! I’m getting Lance back to the Castle. That shot he took is bad.” He listened for the reply as he ran, not stopping for sentries.

Shiro’s end emanates a crash, but his voice is a balm to Keith’s worry, still strong and sturdy. “Alright Keith. We’re almost done, just get him to a healing pod. Hunk’s gonna get Blue back to the Castle."

Lance was almost completely out of it by the time Keith landed the Red Lion in the Castle, nothing more than the odd Spanish murmur or, more heart-wrenchingly, a whimper, coming from him. Keith scooped the boy up once again, feeling the strain at the repeated weight.

“Purpura…” Lance muttered once, before Coran is there and they’re stripping off his armor and Keith watches , suddenly numb and exhausted and trembling too hard to stand, as Coran lays Lance carefully into a healing pod, which seals shut with blue shimmering glass.

Keith doesn’t realize he’s purple until Coran gets his attention by removing his helmet, checking for head wounds to explain the Galra his skin shows. The nick on his cheekbone isn’t even bleeding, and Coran leaves him to check on the others as they arrive, all with relatively minor cuts and bruises.

By then, Keith is more of a washed out grey than purple, slowly calming down as Lance heals unaware. And when Lance staggers out the next day, he regains his normal human coloration, though he practically force-feeds the blue paladin.

Nobody commented, though Lance looked confused and pleased by the attention, despite it coming in the form of food goo.

There are amused glances when even Shiro doesn’t get the full purple-skin Keith though.


End file.
